A Prospective Study Identifying Predictive Factors of Cardiac Decompensation After Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt: The Toulouse Algorithm.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) is now a standard for the treatment of portal hypertension-related complications. After the TIPS procedure, incidence and risk factors of cardiac decompensation are poorly known. The main objectives were to measure the incidence of the onset of cardiac decompensation after TIPS and identify the predictive factors. APPROACH AND RESULTS: All patients with cirrhosis treated with TIPS between May 2011 and June 2016 were considered for inclusion. They received a cardiac assessment by standard biological parameters, transthoracic echocardiography, and right heart catheterization. Patients were followed for 1 year after TIPS insertion. The main endpoint was the incidence of cardiac decompensation requiring hospitalization. One hundred seventy-four patients were treated by TIPS during the period. One hundred patients who underwent a complete cardiac evaluation were included. A cardiac decompensation occurred in 20% of the patients. The parameters associated with the occurrence of severe cardiac decompensation were a prolonged QT interval corrected (462 vs. 443 ms; P = 0.05), an elevated pre-TIPS brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) or N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) level, an elevated E/A ratio (1.5 vs. 1.0; P = 0.001) and E/e' ratio (11 vs. 7; P < 0.001), and a left atrial dilatation (40 vs. 29 mL/m2 ; P = 0.011). The presence of aortic stenosis was also associated with cardiac decompensation. A level of BNP <40 pg/mL and NT-proBNP <125 pg/mL allowed identifying patients without risk of cardiac decompensation. Additionally, absence of diastolic dysfunction criteria at echocardiography ruled out the risk of further cardiac decompensation. CONCLUSIONS: Hospitalization for cardiac decompensation is observed in 20% of patients in the year after TIPS insertion. Combining BNP or NT-proBNP levels and echocardiographic parameters should help improve patient selection.

Spleno-hepatic index to predict portal hypertension by equilibrium radionuclide ventriculography.

BACKGROUND: Structural and morphological changes accompanying liver cirrhosis lead to portal hypertension (PHT), which is the first step of most of the complications in patients with liver cirrhosis. Therefore, the development of noninvasive techniques to detect PHT is crucial for prognosis and treatment. AIM: The aim of our study was to assess the diagnostic performance of a new spleno-hepatic index (SHI) measured from equilibrium radionuclide ventriculography (ERV) images in detecting patients with cirrhotic PHT. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 38 patients with PHT were compared with 30 controls without liver disease. The SHI was measured on the sum of the tomographic images from the ERV and calculated according to the following formula: SHI=(mean splenic count×longest hepatic length)/mean hepatic count. Mean SHI was 54±14 and 36±8 (P<0.001) among patients with PHT and controls, respectively. A cutoff value of 40 for the SHI allowed a sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 77% to detect PHT. SHI greater than 51 was 100% specific. In a subset of 25 patients, SHI was not correlated with hepatic venous pressure gradient measured invasively in the right hepatic vein (R=-0.08, P=0.70). CONCLUSION: Quantification of SHI derived from ERV could be used to detect liver cirrhosis with PHT although it is not linearly correlated with the hepatic venous pressure gradient. SHI should be considered as a useful index for the identification of PHT in patients referred for the detection/exploration of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy by ERV.